HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: Eversburg picks up key pin with heavy heart

Trentonian Photo/ NICK PERUFFO
Raamiah Bethea speaks to the crowd at Trenton High after receiving an honorary jacket before Wednesday night's match against Hamilton. Bethea was the first Trenton wrestler to win a state title when he did so at 152-pounds. Bethea is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania.

Eversburg’s grandfather passed away over the recent winter break. Though Eversburg considered not wrestling against the Tornados, he ultimately decided to do so in tribute, and got a key pin in the 145-pound weight class to help spark the Hornets to a 37-33 win in Tornado Ally.

“He’s definitely someone that made me want to wrestle today,” Eversburg said of his grandfather after the match. “I always knew that he loved when I wrestled. If wasn’t for him and how he loved me wrestling so much, I probably wouldn’t have wrestled today. It was all for him.”

The Hornets were certainly glad to have Eversburg back. Outmanned in the heavier weight classes and forced to take a forfeit in the 138-pound division (neither team had a wrestler at 106 pounds) Hamilton West needed every point they could muster.

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“I just told him to come back whenever he could,” first-year Hornets coach Justin Kloc said of Eversburg. “That was huge.”

The win was Kloc’s first as a head coach. Coming into the match, he knew things were going to have to break a certain way.

“Before the match, the assistant coaches and I looked at the matchups and we knew it was going to be close,” Kloc said. “We needed a couple pins, and we were able to get them early on, so we were more confident as the match went on.”

Those early pins came courtesy of junior Chris Bohorquez at 120 pounds and senior Nick Cecala at 132. Freshan Omar Tejada was also able to get a hard-fought victory over Trenton’s Davonte Smith at 126 pounds.

“We needed some big matches early on, and they really came through,” Kloc said. Omar Tejada was huge, Nick always comes through, and then later on Billy got that pin and really helped us out.”

Trenton started to creep back into the contest when Maaziah Bathea—brother of last year’s state champion Ray Bethea, who was honored before the match—won convincingly at 152 pounds to bring the score to 27-12.

Hamilton then won decisions from Carlos Ramos and Janpierre Cruz before Trenton’s size took over. The Tornados swept the last four matches, but by the time Michael Wittington had pinned John Palacios at 195 pounds, there was no mathematical way for Trenton to win.

Hamilton’s next match will be a 10 a.m. tilt Saturday at home against Allentown. Trenton will have to wait until next Saturday, when they will travel to Lawrence.

About the Author

Former Trentonian sportswriter and utility man. New York Jets, Princeton basketball, Mercer/Bucks county high schools, Trenton Thunder. Tulane grad. Former Times-Picayune and NFL.com intern. Reach the author at nperuffo@trentonian.com
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